Censorship in Yu-Gi-Oh! reveals anxieties about tainting children with the evils of sex. 4Kids devoted countless editing time to removing hints of sexuality, staking their big bucks in the construct of the sexless Romantic child. They played it safe—no one hates innocent children! Unfortunately for them, they had Mai to worry about. While Mai isn’t a kid—she’s 24 years old and still playing card games! The censorship surrounding this lascivious lady intends to preserve the virgin minds of child viewers. Much of the visual censorship is concerned with covering up her curvaceous bod, while her suggestive dialogue is cleansed with Kid-Brand Listerine.

In the English Dub, Mai is still a very sensual character. Her figure has been the prime target of alterations. Her skimpy skirt is usually lengthened in shots in the English Dub:

Episode 91: Mai stands in the foreground. The Left/Red is the Japanese version, in which Mai's skirt can hardly stretch over her butt. Compare the tad-more-modest skirt in the Right/Yellow, Dub version.

Episode 152-3: Mai’s generous cleavage line is also a sight for anxious eyes. It is significantly reduced from the original (Red), making her boobage look like a single blob of fleshy pudding (Yellow). Again, her skirt gets stretched (Yellow):

And her originally low-cut corset (Red) covers more territory (Yellow):

Episode 3: Provocative shots of Mai, such as this skanky crotch-shot, are simply cut from episodes:

Mai’s deck is themed along warrior woman types, monsters which are also sexualized as “hot amazons” or sirens. Each one gives Mai +1 sensual airs. 4Kids attempts to derail this parade of vixens by giving them extra clothing. Episode 6: Mai’s favorite cards, the notorious Harpy Ladies (Red), cover up for The Dub (Yellow):

Additionally, the armor that Harpy Lady wears is originally called “Cyber Bondage,” but is changed to “Cyber Shield”. The nipple-spikes (Red) get snipped from The Dub (Yellow):

Despite her tough attitude, Mai is routinely cast and objectified under a hungry male gaze. Episodes 90-92: Mai’s duel against Yami Marik—“Big Bad” of Season Two—contains underlying sexual tones, in which Marik acts as a male psychopath who tortures a woman in a ritualistic, sexualized act of violence. This interpretation of their duel—nicknamed “Mind Rape” for the psycho-sexual torture that both characters endure—is usually picked up by older fans. 4Kids downplays these creepy connotations as much as possible, cutting out images of Mai and her monsters trapped in Marik’s torture machines, or editing them to take the edge off the violence.

This shot of Amazoness Chainmaster trapped in Yami Marik’s Holding Arms card is cut from The Dub. The sight of the scantily clad female strung up in chains resonates closely with BDSM imagery. While various shots of Mai’s monster, groaning in pain, are depicted in the original, only a scant, faraway flicker of the Chainmaster sneaks into The Dub.

Later, Mai becomes handcuffed by Marik’s manacle-monsters, repeating the sadism theme with a real woman. At this point, Marik’s mania reaches new heights; he says that Mai is the perfect sacrifice, for she is immobilized and cannot even lift her arms in order to forfeit and end the duel. The card game drifts into unconsensual territory, and the dialogue further establishes Marik’s sadistic character. Cut is a shot of Mai being zapped against a sacrificial tablet, along with Marik shouting, Taste pain and pleasure! However, the innuendo doesn’t make it into The Dub, as Marik’s creepy dialogue is replaced with a formal instruction, “Now attack her life points [my monsters]!”

Moreover, in the original, Marik repeatedly addresses Mai as “woman,” which underlines her role as a sexual object. (Dub!Marik addressed Mai as “my dear”—a tad more polite.) This devaluation perhaps further highlights how women in shounen anime are often fanservice before characters on their own right. Mai is one of three strong female characters in the Yu-Gi-Oh!. How many important female characters are there? Four.

The Mai vs. Marik duel is one of the few points in which fanservice and grave sexual themes collide. It is in these episodes where one might argue that Yu-Gi-Oh! could have sufficed for an older audience than 7-year-olds; indeed the Yu-Gi-Oh!manga was targeted towards male teens (Takahashi). However, fanservice in other scenes is much more lighthearted.

Episode 12: While in the woods, Mai stands guard in front of Anzu’s make-shift shower while the other girl washes up. Mai says to Jonouchi, who pokes at the campfire: Hey, you guys, you better not look under the curtain! In The Dub, this dialogue is changed to a sarcastic insult about how Joey is such a good cook, and that all he needs now is a “chef’s hat and a cute apron”—changing the subject from naked girls to cutesy gender roles.

In addition, when Anzu hears scary rustling in the nearby bushes, Jounouchi and Honda jump to her aid. However, Yuugi grabs them before they can open the shower curtain. The two mooks fall the ground in humorous positions, with Yuugi clinging to their coattails. Can we come in and see? they say. In response, Mai bonks them on the head, Of course not!

These shots of Jounouchi and Honda (the two mooks on the ground) trying to open the shower curtain, along with their request to be let inside the shower and Mai’s violent response, are cut from The Dub. Most of the close-ups of Anzu in a towel are also removed. Thus, 4Kids erases not only serious or raunchy examples of sexuality, but also lighter, more humorous scenes.

Episode 28: Also cut is a hilarious scene in which Anzu, Honda, and Bakura attempt to scale a tower steeple. Blushing, Anzu refuses to climb first—the boys might look up her skirt! But Honda wants to be ready to catch her if she falls. The solution: Anzu climbs first and the boys follow… while wearing blindfolds. This scene is cut from The Dub, as 4Kids deems the threat of underwear (which never even actualizes) as too risqué for a young audience. It seems that 4Kids is ready to erase all signs of sexuality that are dispensable from the plot—even the silliest and most ridiculous of moments.

These comical scenes are closer to what Okuhara describes in her experiences watching Dragonball as a child. These scenes contain light, humourous sexual jokes that could be taken “purely” by child audiences. It seems that 4Kids does not really fear for the “safety” and “protection” of children, but the wrath of Moral Guardians who may take issue with such scenes. Adults are the ones with real power, and 4Kids seems unwilling to risk their money and rep. So they, in Okuhara’s words, “overprotect” (Okuhara 207).

Fans do detect and respond to the censorship, often in indignant voices. In response to the censored climbing-the-tower scene, one fan comments on a YouTube vid: “4Kids… your censors make me and many others miss out on many real world jokes. You cause children to grow up awkward and shy, with less understanding of the truth that you hide from them. You ruin children's minds with your﻿ censors. I hope you're happy, you bastards” (Tainted Terror). It’s a guess, but this comment comes off as humorous and sarcastic. The “you bastards” is just a little too hammed on, especially when there are ample videos, art, fanfics, and whole websites dedicated to slamming 4Kids for their terrible track record with anime dubs. However, the threat of growing up awkward due to the lack of social knowledge is a real possibility, and so the fan’s bitterness may be authentic as well.

Moreover, this fan’s comment drives home the point that 4Kids’ censorship spree does not effectively confront issues of sexuality in American society. Rather than learning about sexuality in productive ways, children are simply shielded from it. Separation is key to Romantic childhood—children are simply not supposed to know. The ideal child stays in his/her bubble to preserve their blankness, to remain un-troublingly innocent. This way, no harm shall befall them. Or, at least, that’s the idea. Unfortunately, Romantic innocence itself presents a danger. Higonnet writes:

Romantic innocence puts all children at a kind or risk… Defined as the opposite of adult sexuality, childhood innocence… runs the danger of becoming alluringly opposite, enticingly off-limits. Innocence suggests violation. Innocence suggests whatever adults want to imagine. If childhood is understood as a blank slate, then adults can freely project their own fantasies onto children, whatever those fantasies might be. (Higgonet 38)

Such potentially dangerous fantasies can be found in fan-texts that depict sexual violence and children’s bodies. While they are fantasies and not real enactments of violence, kids are still harmed in real life. It may be unsettling to see anybody—“innocent” or “not”—co-opted for someone else’s violent fetish. Yet, who should have the power to police the desires of others? Controversial kinks are a hot topic within communities of fans and pro-writers alike: “It seems… that regulating which desires are acceptable and which are transgressions is a slippery slope.” Are such fantasies okay as long as they remain in the realm of the imagination? Do these fantasies unintentionally support a violent sexual culture? Or is criticizing them an act of kink-shaming? We’ll address this question later. For now, on to Section V!

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